Germany's Cold War: The Global Campaign to Isolate East Germany, 1949-1969

Rating:
Summary: a key part of the Cold War elucidated
Review: Gray's book does a masterful job of elucidating a key part of the Cold War. In looking at the Cold War in Europe, historians, both academic and popular/armchair, often overlook what America's allies were doing as they fought their own fronts in the larger Cold War. While NATO allies like Britain, Germany, and Italy were loyal supporters of the U.S., and they played a role in Washington's strategy, they also had their own agendas. Nowhere was this more important than in West Germany.

Unlike other American allies in Europe, West Germany had its own "personal" Cold War to fight (against East Germany). In doing so, however, its decisions could impact the larger global conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Additionally, West Germany was locked in a struggle with its own countrymen, in a sense. The "enemy" were fellow Germans.

Using a tremendous array of archival evidence, Gray demonstrates the origins, nuance, and development of West Germany's own Cold War strategy. His bibliography is very impressive. At one point, Amazon recommended buying this book together with Mary Sarotte's "Dealing with the Devil," also about Germany during the Cold War. The two books complement each other nicely, and the comparison is made even more intriguing by the fact that Sarotte and Gray both studied German history at Yale University, only a few years apart.

This book is necessary reading for the graduate student or scholar of the Cold War, and it is an excellent choice for the casual reader looking to go beyond the History Channel.